Federal Circuit Says Mistaken Belief Required For Reissue Error

In In re Dinsmore, the Federal Circuit held that the reissue process could not be used to correct an alleged defect in a terminal disclaimer between patents that were not commonly owned, because there had been no "mistaken belief" to support a reissue error within the meaning of the statute. This case underscores the limits of the reissue process and highlights the care that should be taken with terminal disclaimers.

The Patents at Issue

The patents at issue were U.S. Patent 7,236,568, which named Mark Dinsmore and David Caruso as inventors and which was assigned to twX, LLC, and U.S. Patent 6,658,086, which named Mark Dinsmore as the sole inventor and which was assigned to Carl Zeiss.